Hublot has a reputation for loud, bombastic design that you can spot on a footballer’s wrist from 105 metres away (FIFA’s recommended football pitch length if you’re wondering). Watches like the recent Big Bang Summer do little to change that reputation. However, Hublot does also have a more reserved side. It’s a side where monochrome, sunray brushed dials mesh calmly with an integrated strap design to create a watch that, while not exactly shy or retiring, isn’t quite so manically energetic. I’m talking about the Essential series, which now adds the Hublot Classic Fusion Essential Taupe to its range – one of the most wearable Hublots of all time.
The Essential series is a relatively new addition to Hublot’s collections, debuting in 2024 and spanning multiple models that all share a pared-back vibe and which are all online exclusives. The three previous pieces in the collection were each all-grey editions, such as the Classic Fusion Essential Grey I got hands on with at the tail end of last year. For 2025 they’re mixing it up by moving away from grey and exploring a (slightly) different colour, taupe.
Taupe is the midway colour between brown and grey and is easily mistaken for one or the other while being not quite either. While it’s a fairly obscure colour, it does see a fair amount of use in jewellery and watchmaking (alongside high-end hotel interior design) due to its versatility and quiet charm. While watchmaking is rarely beholden to frivolities like the ‘trendy colour of the year’, the trendy colour of the year is a brown shade called mocha-mousse and taupe is a step in that direction from grey.
As for the watch itself, the Classic Fusion is a staple of Hublot’s range and is often the gateway that collectors start with before graduating to more extreme designs. With the new taupe dial it’s available at diameters of either 42mm or 45mm, meaning you can have it big or massive. Though at a thickness of 10.85mm for both, it’s still one of the most wearable Hublots around, especially in titanium. Ultimately, as I said in the introduction, this might be Hublot’s most restrained model but that doesn’t mean it’s delicate. With all the exposed screws and broad, flat surfaces it’s as shy and retiring as a piece of brutalist architecture.
The larger model is powered by the HUB1112 while the 42mm Classic Fusion Essential Taupe houses the HUB1710, both of which are automatic movements with 48-hour power reserves. The two watches also share a price of £7,300. While it’s still a hefty investment, as all Hublots are, it’s at least the entry level.
Price and Specs:
42mm diameter x 10.4mm thickness
Polished and satin-finished titanium
Hublot calibre HUB1110, automatic (42mm)
More details at Hublot.
Just looking at this review has surprised me. Firstly in the fact that it’s a Hublot, and that would normally steer me away as they are normally big, bold, bulky and barmy prices, but this new model “Classic Fusion essential” in Taupe is refreshingly different, yes, they have made a 45mm version for the “look at me” types, but the 42mm version is truly actually stylish, and in that particular colourway is very nice and “understated ” (visit the Hublot website and you will see this model in other variants which are less than stylish, but that’s another “footballer” story). The Taupe version is very elegant, and that’s not a term that I would normally associate with Hublot. It’s slim, so will sit well under a cuff, so very much falls into the crossover arena and almost a true dress watch (but not quite, – it doesn’t have a leather strap).
Having seen reports from Wimbledon (not the tennis, the so called “celebrities” and their watches), what poor taste they show, wearing a suit with a bold blue Rolex or a diamond spangled Tudor is just not right, but this Hublot would fit the bill, it’s just about taste I guess, money doesn’t “maketh the man”, taste does, I guess that can’t be bought. – this Hublot, yes, tasteful. And, a price that is not outrageous (but too pricey for me!).